The Life Story Of Audie Murphy – The Most Decorated U.S. Soldier Of World War Ii

Audie Murphy ran down the stairs and across the street to the Al Pacho restaurant realizing that he had made a grave mistake, only to find the members of the third infantry division on the floor and lying in a pool of blood. Things haven't always been this way though. It was an early morning in Kingston, Texas, when a cry was heard from Mrs. Josie Bell Killian’s hospital room. Mr. Emmett Berry Murphy rushed into the room, to find that a baby boy had been born.

He got down on his knees, tears of Joy in his eyes and exclaimed “Josie! we have a boy and I know just what to name him. We shall name him Audie, Audie Murphy”. Running out of the room carrying the young Audie in his hands he raised him high into the air and told his other six children that they had a baby brother. The mood that day in the Murphy mansion was ecstatic indeed, with all the members of the Murphy family, just waiting there to carry Little Audie Murphy and give him a big hug.

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From this moment on, Audie’s life only got worse… Right from an early age, nobody wanted to play with him, all because of his sudden mood swings and explosive tempers. He had only one friend named Will, all the way from Pre K to 5th Grade, but they stopped being friends after Audie socked Will in the eye, when Will cracked jokes about Audie.

This is when Audie had decided that he had taken enough and decided to drop out of school.

For three months he told his parents that he would be at school, but instead was at the creek, catching fish. This would have continued for many more months had it not been for his teacher dropping by his house to check whether Audie was in a different school, and how he was doing. Audie was right there behind a bush in front of his home. Listening to this conversation, he got scared, extremely scared. If his parents caught him, they would punish him beyond anyone's wildest nightmares. Audie ran away from his house, and kept running without stopping. He stayed incognito for several days, until he realized that he had to send a telegram to his mom who would be worried sick by now. Upon receiving the message, his mom’s tensions eased out. She knew that his dad was one who would punish Audie severely if he found out about Audie running away, thus she covered it up by telling Emmett that Audie had gone to stay at her Uncle's Farm. Audie’s father was never around, he drifted in and out of the Murphy family’s life until Josie and Emmett got a divorce. Josie told Audie to try and find a job, try to find a place to stay and to be safe. And thus Audie Murphy’s journey began. Audie wandered around from house to house, town to town, looking for a job. He had no money and was starving. He was exhausted and just roaming around when an old couple who lived on a cotton foundation, saw the condition that he was in and called him in. After hearing Audie’s story they (the McWratches) said “You may live with us if you agree to pluck cotton for us. In addition we will keep you well fed and will pay you a dollar a day”. Audie thought that this was the best offer that he could possibly get and took up the job immediately. From day one, he picked cotton at their farm, earning a dollar a day and sending the money home to support his mother and siblings. He stayed with the McWratches for 4 years. At their place, he occasionally sent a telegram back home. The McWratches tutored him a bit, in return for him hunting deer for them to eat.

Everything was going just fine for Audie until he received a heartbreaking news. He was devastated to hear that his mom had passed away due to an illness. This put Audie into depression. He did not come out of his room and did not eat for a whole week. His elder sister Corrine arrived at the plantation as soon as she heard the news. She convinced Audie that life was going to be okay. She also informed him about how joining the armed forces tends to help people deal with this type of depression. Audie thought that this was an extremely bad idea, however he was willing to give it a shot. First off, Audie and Corrine had to make fake details about Audie as he was still one year under the age requirements to join the armed forces. This process was tedious and could end up with Audie getting punished by the government if not executed properly. Luckily, however Corinne had some experience doing things like this as she was a bankrobber who often needed fake details to get into a bank. As Audie walked up to hear the decision made by the Army Officials on who made it and who did not, Audie breathed a sigh of relief as the official said that he was now a part of the Armed Forces. Armed Forces training was a breeze for him. Due to years of standing in the hot sun picking cotton, and years of shooting deer, Audie had no problem with all the training courses. While everyone else on his team would look like they would drop dead after a strenuous training session, Audie however looked like he could do the exercises all over again without breaking a sweat. Audie thought that he would not fight any wars, but was shocked, when on 2nd September 1939, he woke up to the sound of a trumpet blaring. He rushed outside of his barrack to see what all the commotion was about. This is when he realized that WW2 had started… and that the USA were a part of it. From here on, he embarked on a long journey to St.Petersburg Russia along with the third regiment of the United States army. He faced many external conflicts such as hunger and dehydration etc. and he also faced many internal conflicts about who would take care of his mom and siblings if he were to die in the war. On the 30th of September, they arrived at the USA Bunker on the St.Petersburg battlefield. After landing on Yellow Beach near Ramatuelle, Audie's platoon were making its way through a vineyard when the men were attacked by German soldiers. Audie ducked down and started to fire. This was his very first time fighting in a real battle. He was scared beyond anyone's wildest imagination. Click, Click. Oh no! His gun had run out of ammo and Audie's best friend in the army was on the German’s side wounded. He retrieved a machine gun that had been detached from the squad and returned fire at the German soldiers, killing two and wounding one.

Two Germans exited a house about 100m away and appeared to surrender, but instead managed to escape. He was awarded a battlefield promotion to the rank of Lieutenant due to his acts. Even though it seemed like Audie had won this part of the battle, it was not over yet… The two German soldiers that manage to escape got in contact with their superiors and rallied backup troop. These troop laid an attack on the tank that Audie and his team were travelling in. “Boom”, “Boom”, “Boom” . Things are exploding all around and all that Audie could see is black smoke and members of his team injured. Audie insisted that his team go back to base with all the injured soldiers and that he will stay there alone, guarding the American post until they bring backup. Murphy started off by shooting his M1 carbine at the Germans, but it seemed as though every time he killed one German two more took his place. After half an hour of firing his assault rifle, he ran out of ammo as obviously he had only got enough ammo to last through the vineyard mission. Audie got onto the burning tank that the Germans had ambushed, and began shooting from its machine gun at the advancing German soldiers. Disregarding his own injuries he stood there for an hour and kept shooting at the Germans all while giving orders on how the backup team should reach him from a SCR-536 Radio that weighed at least 2 Kilos. The machine gun ran out of ammo.

His heart was racing so fast that it felt that his chest was about to explode. Audie was just about to be taken hostage by the Germans when the American troops arrived to rescue Audie. Even with an injured heel he refused to go back to base and continued to fight with the American troops. His actions that day earned him the rank of Major of the US Armed Forces and it also earned him the most prestigious medal in the United States armed forces - The Medal of Honor. Audie was taken to the nursing home and had a nap, when he woke up and ran down the stairs and across the street to the Al Pacho restaurant realizing that he had made a grave mistake, only to find the members of the third infantry division on the floor and lying in a pool of blood. He fell to the floor, weeping. He now remembered what the army officials had told him. Now he remembered… All the members of his infantry, were supposed to wear masks while on the vineyard mission, or as matter of fact on any mission. This was so that the Germans did not see their faces. If the Germans saw their faces, they would send spies after the US Troop members and have them assassinated. He forgot to warn his team to wear masks, and to be on the lookout for any German spies. He felt horrible… extremely horrible. He could not sleep for the rest of the war as he had nightmares about the death of his team. He felt that he was the one who should have died and not his team. He was diagnosed with PTSD (Post traumatic stress disorder) but made a full recovery at the St.John's hospital over a span of 4 years. In that time he realized that the incidents that happened in his life whether good or bad, made him who he is today, and that he should learn to move on.